Lemonade Stand Tycoon

Thalia came running downstairs after counting the money she and Abra made from their lemonade and cookie stand the other day. Luckily I had the camera right next to me when she burst into the room....


Really there's not much more I can add to that picture.

Girls Sing Stones

So my master plan to brainwash the girls is that I have all my Rolling Stones CDs in the car, and that's the only thing I listen to when I am driving them around. (And as Brenna will attest to, I have quite a few Stones CDs...). So they are learning, particularly Thalia, who sings along with all the music.

I've tried to record Thalia, but she has proved very shy about singing into a microphone. Finally tonight I got her to do so, and I've posted the tracks below. Note that sometimes you have to put up with gaps in her singing because she doesn't know some of the words -- keep listening, though, because she does know the refrains! Also, on some tracks you have to put up with my voice leading her through certain parts -- I apologize in advance for subjecting you to that....

So here are our selections:

• As Tears Go By (she does well in the refrain on this one -- wait for it)
  
• Satisfaction (she belts it out on this track!)
  
• Sweet Virginia (thankfully she changed the lyrics on the fly at the very end!)
• Tumbling Dice (she loves the "roll me"'s...)
  
• Jigsaw Puzzle (this one didn't turn out so well, which is strange since it's one of her favorite Stones songs...)

And as a bonus, when Abra came home, Dad and the girls teamed up to do Sympathy for the Devil -- you really have to excuse my voice, but the girls do the hoo-hoos quite vigorously.

Politician Kidlets

Abra just can't get enough of writing to President Obama:

(you'll have to click on the image so it will resize to a readable version)

The drawing is great, but personally my favorite part are the questions. Particularly the "do you have problems, and if so, name a few, ok?" I can just see him writing back, "yeah, you know those asshats on the Senate Finance Committee are really dogging my tail, Abra, and don't even get me started about the GM situation..."

Meanwhile, as Abra writes to politicians, Thalia is starting a campaign of her own. First, she butters up the parents:


And then, to make sure we know who made that picture, she adds on the back


Yes, that's right, it's from our best doter! Not that other one that only writes to the President....

More Bad Parenting

Evidently we make our children sleep in small cardboard boxes:

Bobby

OK, now that I have a scanner in the house, it's a lot easier to scan a whole bunch of random stuff without having to remember to take it into work to use the scanner there. So here's the first item from the great archive of nonsense that is lying around the house.

This dates from last year, when Abra was in kindergarten and still working on getting her letters right. She brought this drawing home from school, and I suddenly was worried that I had been replaced by a better dad/husband. Some guy named Bobby:



After scratching my head for a while and trying to figure out if I should start packing up and make way for Bobby, I suddenly realized that I was ok, and that Abra has simply reversed her "d"s.

At least I hope that's all it was.

Adoption, Part Two

...and today we had Abra's adoption finalized. We are very pleased.

The morning started with me getting into my suit. Keep in mind I haven't actually been in a suit in five years (my wedding tuxedo excepted) and it is only by virtue that I've been on a low fat diet for the past three months that I got into it. Nonetheless, I did manage to squeeze into it, without any buttons shooting off and putting anyone's eye out.

We trundled the girls into the car, and took Thalia to preschool. We would have taken Thalia to the courthouse as well, except she had a field trip to Purvis Park today, and we figured that would be more exciting for her than sitting around some old courthouse.

After dropping Thalia off, we went downtown. Abra stayed with a nice Sparty law clerk while Brenna and I and our wonderful counselor Becky Blair went and talked to Judge Gallagher for a while. It turns out the judge is an amateur astronomer, and had actually been to Kitt Peak before, so we chatted telescopes and Saturn and stuff, and that made me relax a bit.

Then the judge called Abra in to talk with her for a bit. That's where I wish I had a camera: Abra, all four feet of her, standing in the court looking up at the judge high on her podium, and answering her questions. Abra did that little swish-swish she does when she's self-conscious, which totally charmed the court. Judge Gallagher asked Abra about her sister, and if she shared her things. Abra said yes, mostly. Judge Gallagher asked her if Abra had things that were just hers, and Abra said yes, the things she hid from her sister. That earned good courtroom laughs.

So after that, Judge Gallagher approved the adoption, all was done, and we took Abra back to school (since there was a school carnival in the afternoon). Mom and Dad took the rest of the day off, and we celebrated.

Life is good.